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I know its been discussed before but not for a while... My hair is very thick and i have loads of it. In the UK my hairdresser was fab at thinning it out with a cut throat and doing loads of layers. I've been to 3 hairdressers since arriving all who didn't thin or cut it right the worst was today :cry: The side fringe was looking a bit square and messy so popped in somehwere local for a trim and she just cut it on a slant above my eyebrows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :realmad: Please, please tell me there is a good hairdresser somewhere I dye it myself just want a trim cannot wear it pinned up with grips forever..... :wubclub:

Hi , Just wondered if anyone lives/lived.... or has visited Jurien bay . Any Opinions about the area would be great . I have researched about the housing and the population Just would like some more honest good or bad thoughts about the bay Thanks Bridess x

Hiya all, I am looking to send my boy out to work already lol. I am wondering if anyone on here has a child with a modelling agent? I have found a few on the net and one local in Torquay but it would be nice to find if anyone else has had some success.

My husband, daughter and I are moving to aus on 30th April 2011. We were going to base ourselves in Buderim. Any info on the place would be great. We would be looking to rent. Picked Buderim for it's position. We would like to be near mountains, beach and country. We have visited Aus four times since 2001 and did not get a good look at Buderim. Thx

Hi, I've been looking on this site for over 2 years, i've had loads of information to do with visa applications which was a great help, now my husband,myself and two kids, my son who's 15 and my daughter who is 12 have finally arrived in Brisbane our dilemma is we do not know which areas to move to, my husband has got a job in Carrina, but we want to live by the coast, we loved Victoria Point, Wellington Point, looked at Redland Bay, Raby Bay/Cleveland, can anyone give us any advice/guidance about these areas and your opinions on the state schools, this would be really helpful as were so confused. thanks

Hi Everyone, We have just moved to North Lakes and would love to make friends around the area. We have 3 children that I’m hoping that will go to north lakes school 16, 11 and 12.Would like to make friends before they start school and a desperate husband who is dying for someone to show him some good fishing spots. Jill

Hi, just after advice regarding schools in or around the Bunbury area, we are hoping to be over there around March 2011. At the moment they are in Y6 and Y2, so I am also having to look at secondary schools over here just in case!

Well we finally got here!! We have been here for four weeks now and things are just starting to settle. So, we were just wondering if anyone meets in the Redland/Cleveland area. Would love to meet new friends who are either as new as we are to Australia or who have been here ages and would like to share there wisdom! Jill, Mark, and kids (11 & 17)

Hi Moving to Melbourne in 4 weeks and so far been looking at Werribee, Point Cook area but just found out that my parents who are also moving out shortly cannot afford any of the properties in that area due to their house in uk losing a lot of value recently. Having to start research all over again and wondered if anyone can tell me what Melton & Bacchus Marsh areas are like or does anyone have any other suggestions for nice areas suitable for families and not too far inland. Thanks Maz x

Can anyone recommend a good accountant in the Mornington area? This is our first year to do the tax thing and I have 2 kids and lots of receipts!!:biggrin: Cheers x

Hi, Thought i would start another thread up to see if anyone would be interested in having a good natter. Maybe in a couple of weeks so that we can get a few people interested, Also any sugestions on where to go may come in handy :biggrin: Mags

Hi We have been here for appx 2.5 years now and thought I would pass on some of the good and bad experiences so far. General Info Before you set off.... Make sure you have a job to come to, low unemployment means not much to go after and a lot of competition, especially for part-time. Also to maintain your same standard of living you will need appx twice the salary you are earning in the UK - 95% of stuff is appx twice as expensive here - salaries are appx 1.5x here. If you are bringing your DAB radio make sure it is DAB+ otherwise it will not work. TV's - my friend works in TV broadcasting and says "won't work due to different number of lines that make up picture" - good enough for me, we did not bring ours and some reasonable bargains to be had on new here. (Several good electrical outlets - Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, J&B Hi-Fi - so plenty of competition) It will help to pack a multi-gang socket extension lead in your hand / hold luggage - remember all those gadgets (phones / ipods / laptops etc) with ac adaptor type power supplies, where are you going to plug them in when you arrive ??? find your nearest Bunnings and buy an bag of Aussie plugs for appx $3each Books are horrendously expensive, so yes heavy and take up room - but if you have space in your container - bring them. In fact make sure your container is full to bursting, because "we will buy that when we get over there" will hurt your wallet. Do not throw away you winter clothes - it does get "cold" here - it may only be 5C overnight in winter, but most of the houses are so poorly insulated it will feel much colder, likewise they do not retain heat so heating costs can mount up. No joke sometimes you put you jumper / jacket on to go in the house!! When you arrive Parking - roads are marked very well for where you can or cannot park, a 4P sign means free parking for 4 hours, but also 4P with "ticket" in small text - so be careful. You have to park facing the direction of traffic (1970's UK?) but I do not know how strictly this is enforced. In the city parking ranges from free (if you are lucky enough to find one) to $10 per hour and $15-30 all day at weekends - again worth weighing up public transport cost option. Sign up to "stardeals / groupon" on the web, excellent daily offers - just landed a diving course for half price. Been meaning to get open water certificate for years. The Entertainment Book" is a good buy (appx $65) you get a mass of vouchers for all sorts and easily pays for itself - any makes you get out there and try new stuff."It is available via schools and other organisations Good Weather (obviously) People - generally very friendly and helpful, but strangely lacking in manners - must be a city thing? (If someone lets you out at a junction, they are probably British) Facilities - when you start to find where things are - I am not a great shopper but there are some massive multi-level shopping centres (got lost several times) if you are. Plenty of gyms available and reasonable costs - like everything quite a variety and shop around. Also bartering is the norm so shake off that reserve and ask for a discount in almost anywhere - even small purchases - my wife just purchased an alarm clock which was priced at $24.90 and got it for $22. Food - The quality of the food when you eat out is better here generally than the UK but there are not the range of places to eat, a cafe will generally provide a very good meal (not the dried up leftovers you sometimes get in the UK) but there is not much difference between the "cafes" and "restaurants" - unless you spend big bucks. Service - The customer service is much better than UK when eating - genuinely please to serve and NO TIP expected (are you listening USA) so if you are more then happy you can leave a tip for that extra mile. Public Transport - The public transport system is excellent, efficient and reasonable price - use buses with a "ten-use" multi or single zoned ticket (cannot remember real name) and save more. You cannot often pay cash when in the city so better to have ticket to hand. Car Travel - Overtaking on the inside - brilliant! the UK should have adopted this years ago, no more "middle lane hoggers" (forget your years of lane discipline, quite often you will get over to the left only to find "lane ends in 200m sign" - very common on A/B roads) mostly automatic gearboxes of course - also good. Festivals - Again excellent (it's not called the city of festivals for nothing) something different in the city almost every weekend - and mostly free, you can find all day parking for $10 if you shop around. Bad House Prices - Purchase prices are bad enough but rental, as most of you will be doing at first are even worse. We had to raise our budget to over $650 PER WEEK to find anything half decent - it really is a sellers / landlord's market due to the shortage of housing Prices - OMG it is expensive here (I though I had done my research) If you are coming over make sure you are going to earm at least twice the amount you do in the UK. The only exceptions are, petrol, and BBQ's (that we have found so far) on average everything is double the price. I guess the UK economy and rubbish exchange rate / growing Australian economy has something to do with it but the urban myth of "well everything has to be shipped so far / we only have 20million population....." wears a bit thin when goods from China still cost twice as much than good old/bad Tescos would charge. Example - we were paying appx £35/month for broadband+phone - including all national calls and 10 international destination for 1 hour calls. We have just signed up for broadband+phone with some bundled calls (but expensive call rates) for $89/month (but obviously you can shop around & we didn't want to do 24mth commitment, which most of them are). Customer Service - Things like sorting out phones etc can be difficult because of being "department shoved" or people not returning calls - the warning of what is the difference between mobile phone salesmen and cowboys........very true. Since our original problems on broadband installation - I must say Optus customer service was pretty good. Real Estate Agents - As one of your main priorities when arriving is to sort out where you are going to live (and you will probably be renting first) then sorry but you will have to go through the horrible system here. You are treated like second class citizens by most agents and you have to compete for 90% of properties with many others, so when eventually you find a place you like - shop around again, huge variation - you may not get it and have to start over. Of course, the higher the rent, the less competition and agents start being more accommodating. It may sound obvious, but get a few properties you are interested in and do a drive by, you will not have time to waste on the day trying to decide which one's you are interested in. Roads - Car travel is pretty slow, we are from a village, but I used to travel extensively throughout the UK (but not so much in cities) the roereads are wide, but the combination of lower speed limits, lots of speed / red light cameras and so many sets of traffic lights - (American road grid system) mean do not expect to travel around quickly - in the UK you can work on an average of 50MPH, here it is probably 40KPH. Many major routes have toll charges, you can pay cash (but not always) but if you travel regularly then you have an "etag" - fix it to your windscreen and away you go. Luckily my company pays for mine as each toll point can cost $2-3 which can add up if you go through 3 on your way to work - also my sat nav (god-send of course) gives me the options and to be honest I have tried both toll and non-toll routes and there generally is not much difference in travelling time. Ugly Nothing really, but at first sight the dumping of stuff outside houses looks horrendous - you have 2 occasions per year (I guess it varies by area) to put unwanted stuff, furniture / diy projects etc out the front of your house. But when you get used to it, it is probably a better system than everyone making short trips to the tidy tip and it is a free for all - if you see something you like, just take it (some half decent stuff gets dumped - you could almost furnish a house!) It may be obvious, but the commuting is pretty bad, we only live 25kms from Sydney centre, but my wife has appx 1.25hours each way on the bus - and quite often does not get to sit down. General Stuff Thanks to some people who made our transition easier John Mason removals UK - a very professional service and we were kept up to date this end of our stuff arriving (by Wridgeways - Aussie counterparts) Lisa and Darren - you know who you are, thanks for inviting complete strangers into your home to offer some word of advise - Darren's "the first 3 months can be ****" very true !! (about 1 month for me) - stick with it and soon it becomes "normal" I hope this helps if you are unsure of what to expect, it might seem a daft comment but it is a BIG country so expect your general travelling to be longer Aussies will say "ah yeh, it's just down the road" = 100km.

Is there anyone out there who lives in sydney near hills area, OATLANDS/CASTLE HILL/CARLINGFORD/PARRA- who would live to meet up for girly get togethers? I am really missing my girls from back home. Im here living with my australian boyfriend and really in need for some girl time. Im 23 years of age originally from London. I have been here a year and am just going through the defacto application process.

Hi we are a family of 4 with 2 children aged 3 and 1 living in Blaxland near Penrith. Just wondered if there was anyone out there in the same area with children who fancied meeting up for a coffee?

Hi does anyone live in Kenmore - we are looking at moving there and would love some inside info! Many thanks

Hi, Does anyone know of a GOOD kilt hire shop in sydney or near about? Thanks in advance

Hello again! Well it's all change - looks like we are now heading to The Hunter Valley and not Canberra after all! So, can anyone give me any info on the region. DH will be working in Singleton so we will be looking to live somewhere commutable to there. What is the climate like in that area? Warmer than Canberra in winter I expect....?? Where are the nicer towns/areas? We have two small children so any advice on schools would be handy too. Soooo excited as our permanent residence visa was approved today!!!!! Any info gratefully received:notworthy:

Has anyone had experience of renting furnished accommodation around the North Lakes area that you would be happy to recommend? It will be for a family of 4. If all goes to plan with our 457 visa we'll be in oz at the end August this year but our furniture won't arrive until about 6 weeks later. Struggling to find anything on the net! Thank you all!:biggrin:

I moved to Sydney nearly three years ago, and now live with my family here on the Northern beaches.I know first hand how difficult it is to get a start here in OZ, so it would be great to help one of you guys out! I work for a family run company, who have been into pipeline relining,cctv and jetting for many years, throughout the Sydney area.My boss has asked me to find a POM who needs a job.You will need to have a clean driving licence, and be physically fit (due to plenty of shovel work/holes to dig).Experience in drainage is not essential, but obviously desirable.We are more interested in someone that intends to make Sydney their home long term, and looking to start the right person quickly. If however, you are sitting in the UK awaiting a visa grant, and do have experience in pipe relining,jetting,cctv survey work; it maybe still worthwhile in sending me your CV, as we are expanding/moving pretty fast.

hi everyone me and my partner (im 25, dp 33) have lived here 2 years, and recently moved surburbs to baldivis, we havent had much opportunity to make many friends, and was wondering if there are anyone is these areas interested in meeting. we have a boy ben, 2 and one due jan. tracy xxxxxxxxx

hi guys im leah and im 15 years old. me and my family are moving to redcliffe area, QLD in 8 weeks and was wondering if there was anyone who i could talk to about australia and schools and stuff. thanks leah :biggrin:

Hi all, we are looking at schools in and around maitland. we are arriving in Oz at the end of june 2010 and our girls will be 13 & 16. anyone have any views on Maitland Grossman high school. thanks in advance for any comments.

Hi my 14 year old daughter and 15 year old son are visiting me us in Baldivis over Xmas and then again at Easter before they emigrate permanently. My daughter is into Dancing, playing keyboards, is learning Japanese and loves anything Japanese related, is a member of the Guides, and is heavily into anything Twilight related! My son is into music, playing guitar, Xbox, BMX and skateboarding. My daughter has an account on here set up, but she forgot to activate it so just waiting for that to be done then I'm sure she'll post her own messages. So if anybody is around and would like to meet up teens and parents then please give me a shout. Want to also get the low down on some of the schools in the area from both teens and parents points of view. Thanks Jayne

Hi everyone, Just wondering if anyone can tell me the regional areas for a Western Australian state sponsorship 475 visa? Many Thanks David

Hi everyone, I have recently secured a job in Wodonga and my employer has put in for sponsorship and nominated me for the position. I was told I have to wait until he is accepted before I can put in my application for 457 using the nomination reference he gets back. Not sure whether to apply myself online or use a broker. Any advice would be much appreciated from visa application proses to buying property and to contacting other Brits that are in the area. Regards, Andy